In the ongoing effort, Bellevue Police detectives make seven (7) more arrests at several massage businesses in Bellevue. Fraudulently obtained licenses, practicing without a license and permitting unlicensed massage are only a few of the violations. In some cases, the same person has been arrested for a second time, which increases the violation to a Class C felony. "It is frustrating to find people we have already arrested on similar violations are out there the next day, illegally working in our city. We will work with the Department of Health to identify, contact and arrest individuals that continue to break the law," said Det. Tor Kraft.

Department of Health and HSI requested assistance from Bellevue Police Department in completing these investigations. In this last round of inspections, seven (7) were arrested, five (5) of which were owners and co-owners of the spas and two (2) employees.

In September of 2011, the Bellevue Police vice division received information from the Washington State Department of Health and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that a number of regional massage practitioner's licenses had been obtained fraudulently.

Bellevue Police will continue to investigate further claims of massage license fraud and is committed to eliminating all illegal massage practices in Bellevue.